1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bed accessories and more specifically to decorative, lightweight, knock-down slipcovered headboards that accompany, but are not attached to, the supporting structure of the bed. This invention has functional and design advantages over those previously known.
2. Description of Related Art
Each season, individuals and home designers desire to change the look and feel of home interiors, especially the bedroom. Redecorating can be used to transform a dull room into a reflection of personal style. Time, budget and functionality are considerations. This is especially true when the room is a bedroom, the most private room in a home. Bedrooms are considered a place of relaxation and it is, therefore, desirable to redecorate with minimal stress and maximal personality.
Customized home decorating is expensive and requires an interior decorator and purchasing designer furniture, art and other accessories. This may be appropriate for some, but is too costly for most. One decorating option is to achieve the bedroom you want by getting a headboard which allows frequent changes and updates to the décor.
Contemporary bed structures often comprise a bed frame and mattress or a mattress resting on a box spring supported by a frame on legs or wheels. Often, a decorative headboard and/or footboard are attached to either the frame or box spring, or both, to enhance the visual impact of the bed.
Conventional headboards are often attached directly to the frame, upholstered and heavy. This makes them bulky, a pricey investment and “permanent”. They offer little flexibility as to changes in decorative taste, the maturing and evolving taste of a child and youth, as well as a lifestyle defined by mobility of individuals when it becomes desirable or necessary to move from one living location to another. A conventional upholstered headboard then triggers storage expenses, creates guilt and buyer's remorse.
A variety of headboard assemblies and decoration choices have been described. Many alternatives are limited in that they require mounting a headboard to an existing bed frame (U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,349 to Cohen; U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,910 to Morten; U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,195 to Murray; U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,032 to Flocks; U.S. Pat. No. 6,374,440 to Thim, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 7,024,709 to Moceri; U.S. Pat. No. 7,346,948 to Swezey et al.; U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0288253 to Jin). This can not be achieved without significant alterations and often damages to the existing frame, or may be impossible without the help of a welder in the case of a metal frame. Furthermore, the customer is limited to the existing size of the bed frame and cannot easily expand or contract the headboard frame to suit a new, different size for mattress and bed structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,071 to Lenner describes incorporating interchangeable panels or U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0281615 to Truex describes headboard/footboard covers for a bed for an existing bed frame. While these alternatives do not damage a bed frame, they do not offer the variety of artistic expression and flexibility in bringing art into the bedroom, as described in the present invention.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0135928 to Murphy et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,182,307 to Rutrick; U.S. Pat. No. 6,371,190 to Owens; U.S. Pat. No. 6,618,876 to Murphy et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,118,179 to Wilson et al., describe wall-mounted decorations of a fixed size.
It is desirable to provide means to maintain current home decorating trends and seasonal themes without significant financial or time investment. It is also desirable to change the appearance of the bed, and thereby the expression of the complete bedroom, without limitations of, or damage to, existing headboards. It is further desirable to provide a high level of consumer control and allow the consumer to easily incorporate very personal style elements, such as children's drawings and/or personal photographs, into decorating their bedroom.